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Gearing up for Open Developer Day

"This page is a digital archived AccessInfo Announcement"

The Chairman's Accessibility and Innovation Initiative is trying new ways of encouraging solutions via collaborative problem-solving. This event will bring web developers together from government, industry, and the public. A priority goal is to design a clearinghouse of information on accessible, information and communication technologies. The new telecom. access law requires the Com.mission to build such a clearinghouse within a year. We also hope the event will stimulate other ideas and components of innovation.

Below is the text of a blog post with more detail. Note the options for remote participation.

This coming Monday the com.mission will play host to a one-of-a-kind event in federal government. We're calling on coders, programmers and developers of all stripes to join us at FCC headquarters for our first ever Open Developer Day. This will be a rare opportunity for developers in the public and private sectors to join forces. Out of this gathering will come innovations, collaborations and continued open government partnership.

Central to Monday's event will be three tracks weaving their way through the day. Equipped with our laptops and the fellowship of sharp friends we'll be working through accessibility solutions and open APis; and we'll host a Free Hack, an open-ended developer free-for-all. FCC tech minds and leadership will open the event, situating our Developer Day within the larger open government movement.

Programmers from the Yahoo! Developer Network (http://developer.yahoo.com) will be on hand to demo their tools and provide guidance. They will give an overview of YQL, their query language which allows developers to "access and shape data across the Internet through one simple language, eliminating the need to learn how to call different APis." We will also see a demonstration of their YUI Library, a set of "utilities and controls ... for building richly interactive web applications."

An undertone, pervading a significant strand of the discussion, will be the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act. In signing the act last month, President Obama said the act "will make it easier for people who are deaf, blind or live with a visual impairment to do what many of us take for granted... It sets new standards so that Americans with disabilities can take advantage of the technology our economy depends on.

The full day event will start at 9:00am and take place in Washington, DC at FCC headquarters (445 12th St., SW, Washington, DC 20554). All developers are welcome free of charge. Bring a laptop and RSVP soon send to mikelle.morra @fcc.gov with the subject of "RSVP for Open Developer Day).

If you're not in the DC area and are unable to make it down here, we will be live streaming portions of the day. You can also join the discussion on Twitter using the hashtag #fccdevday. To email questions write to livequestions @fcc.gov. You can participate by visiting Accessible Event (http://www: accessibleevent.com), and entering the event code 005202376. For any TTY issues please contact Pam Gregory (pam.gregory [at] fcc [dot] gov)